Watch the YouTube video here.

All eyes were on Luka Dončić last night. After a frenzied trade deadline that saw an unprecedented blockbuster trade take place between the Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Lakers, which saw the superstar swap squads with Anthony Davis, NBA fans around the globe were eager to see how the 25-year-old Slovenian would fair in his first game donning the purple and gold. 

Dončić didn’t score 50 points. Nor did he notch up his patented triple-double. When looking at the box score, which reads 14/5/4 on 5-15 from the field and a paltry 1-7 from beyond the arc, one might even say his performance was severely underwhelming–but this is an example of how reading a box score doesn’t paint the full picture. 

First of all, Dončić was on a minutes restriction, playing just 24 minutes and sitting for all of the fourth quarter; a decision made no doubt due to him not having played since December due to injury. Secondly, the man was unscrupulously traded from a franchise he thought he would spend his career with–uprooted, blindsided, and having to readjust to not only a new team but an entire city. Yet, when watching this Lakers squad in action last night, it’s hard not to see something special happening before our eyes. 

Though it might have simply been a good night for L.A. going up against a 14th-seeded Utah Jazz, there was something about this squad that just seemed to “click.” Seven players scored in double-digits, and the team shot an impressive 54% from the field. Beyond the stellar passing and shooting, there seemed to be a fire lit under every player, an intensity that spurred solid defence and an offensive focus and flow that often waned in games prior throughout this season. Though Luka admittedly looked somewhat lost at times, still finding his rhythm with the rest of the band, there were flashes of greatness that showed what could potentially be a redux of “Showtime” in L.A.

Of course, the same was said when Anthony Davis joined LeBron James in L.A. Though the two would go on to win a championship in 2020, the duo never quite seemed to reach the heights of what was expected of them. That height, of course, being the “Showtime Lakers” of the 80s with Hall of Famers Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar leading the charge. It’s a tall order, no doubt, but that’s what’s expected out of a team with a legacy such as the Lakers. 

Having watched Davis and James play over the past few years, it seemed to me that the entire system for the Lakers, both offensively and defensively, always surrounded those two and just those two. This seems like the logical approach given their statures as players and what they each brought to the team. However, it made the rest of the squad simply look like set dressing. So when a player like Austin Reaves came out of nowhere and started dropping 30, it perplexed their system and playstyle. 

Anthony Davis always needed the ball in his hands to operate the offence, which rarely included the other players. Luka, on the other hand, does need the ball in his hands to operate an offence, sure, but just like LeBron, that offence involves every other player on the court. This allows guys like Reaves, Hachimura, and Gabe Vincent to get more touches and have more opportunities to flow and create spacing–instead of the ball simply ping-ponging between Davis and James. I’m not going to pretend like I know what the Lakers’ system and playbook are, but what I can say is that I saw some very good basketball happening last night. If JJ can figure out how to get the most out of this team, then L.A. might have something very special on their hands, and it’ll be quite interesting to see how this squad will fare come playoff time.